If you want to help make sure that Mary Hayashi doesn’t get elected to the California Senate next, you may want to support her opponent, Fremont assembly member Bob Wieckowski. I’ve met the man and he seems very committed to sound public policy rather than political climbing. Hayashi has almost a million dollars in her campaign account, so Wieckowski will need as much help as he can get.
You can make a contribution here
San Leandro has a long history of representation at the state level. Presently, Ellen Corbett, a former mayor of San Leandro, is the Majority Leader of the California Senate while Bill Lockyer, a former San Leandro School Board member, is the State Treasurer. Even Pete Stark, our representative in Congress, started his political career in San Leandro. San Leandro’s influence at the state level may cease, however, as no San Leandran has so far announced a 2012 run for either the California Assembly or Senate. While the election is not until June, and candidates don’t need to file until next March, anyone seriously considering a run needs to start fundraising and coalescing political and grass-root support right now. So far, there seem to be only four candidates for the Assembly district that will include San Leandro, and two candidates for that Senate district.
Redistricting is almost finalized at the state level, and most of San Leandro has been grouped with Alameda and most of Oakland in a new Assembly district. The new Senate district goes from San Leandro as far north as Rodeo, while the congressional district ends in north Berkeley. Previously, we were part of an Assembly district that included Hayward and Pleasanton, and a Senate district that goes from San Leandro as far south as north San Jose. This all means that San Leandro will encounter a new batch of politicians aiming to represent it. Currently, three of the declared candidates for Assembly are from Oakland and one is from Alameda. While the Senate race will be very competitive, posing former Berkeley mayor and current state senator Loni Hancock against Oakland Assembly member Sandré Swanson, the field of candidates for the Assembly seems rather weak, and there is still room for a San Leandran to jump into the race. While I haven’t heard any rumors of anyone considering this move, there are several past or current elected officials who could be strong candidates if they decided to run.
The current candidates for the Aseembly are:
Rob Bonta, a Filipino lawyer, works as a deputy DA in San Francisco. After holding a couple of commission seats, he was elected to the Alameda City Council in November 2010. His feet are not yet wet, but he’s ready to jump ship into bigger things. His website doesn’t offer a platform or indications as to what his views are, but he is a democrat and said in an interview he’s interested in education and social services. He is married, with 3 children.
Abel Guillen: Guillén is a young man who runs a school finance firm. He was elected to the Peralta Community College Board of Trustees in 2006, and re-elected in 2010. He’s running in a general “make California better” platform. He is a democrat and seems to be single.
Kathy Neal: Neal is an African American businesswoman and Democratic Party operative. She’s currently a member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. She is divorced from former Oakland mayor Elihu Harris. She doesn’t seem to have a webpage, so I don’t know what her platform will be.
Joel Young: Young is a young African American lawyer, appointed to the AC Transit Board in 2009 and re-elected in 2010. His past political experience consists of working on Loni Hancock and Joan Buchanan’s campaigns. He is running on a platform of “jobs, education and the environment”. He is a democrat. He is single with no children.
I hope to meet with all the candidates and report back on my opinion of them and their platforms. I also hope to see someone with more experience and specific goals arise, ideally from San Leandro.
The California Citizens Redistricting Commission seems to have listened to us, and is keeping San Leandro whole in the new district maps. However, they’re cutting our long association with Hayward and we will now be bunched with Oakland/Alameda for both the California Assembly and Senate districts. This means that from a practical point of view it’s unlikely that any San Leandran politician will be able to be elected to the California Legislature – Oakland politicians are not only better known, but they are able to tap into deeper pockets for campaign contributions. But candidates for state office will still have to pay attention to San Leandro and our particular issues if they want our votes. It’s not the ideal situation, we’d have more political clout if we were part of a district that included Hayward, but it’s better than the alternative of being cut in two, as the earlier maps suggested.
Sandre Swanson, who represents the 16th Assembly district that currently includes Oakland, will be termed out and several city council members from Oakland and Alameda are expected to run for his seat in 2012. I’m sure we’ll be seeing them around these parts soon. As for the Senate, we’ll be in a district that will now include both our current Senator, San Leandro native Ellen Corbett, and Loni Hancock of Berkeley. At this point it’s impossible to know who will be our state senator come 2012. Depending on what number the Redistricting Commission assigns to that senate district, there may be an election for that senate seat in 2012 or a senator may be appointed to the seat until 2014.
San Leandro will not be lumped with Oakland in the new Congressional district (sorry Barbara Lee fans), but rather we will be part of a new district that goes as far south as northern Fremont/Newark and that includes of all Livermore and areas further to the east. This is an area currently represented in congress by both Pete Stark and Jerry McNerney. Stark is one of the most liberal members of Congress, while McNerney is a somewhat conservative Democrat. This new district will be heavily Democrat, but with a strong conservative base. It’s difficult to know what will happen if this district map is finalized. Stark could chose to run against McNerney in a primary, or against Zoe Lofgren, who will take over the southern part of Fremont/Newark that Stark currently represents. More likely, he’ll chose to retire. He’s 80 years old and in ill health, and still has a young family he could spend his last years with. Ellen Corbett has expressed interest in running for Congress before, and she may be willing to confront McNerney in a primary election. Indeed, this may be her only if not best chance to continue in politics.
Of course, the maps issued today are the first draft. The Redistricting Commission will continue hearing testimony and may redraw the maps based on that. For that reason, I think it’s still important to continue writing to the Commission and asking them to make sure that San Leandro is kept together in the final maps.